Orange France says 'non' to iPhone deal

September launch date impossible, says Orange France exec

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Who will get the Apple iPhone contract in Europe? The bets are still on...

Orange France has denied that it is partnering with Apple to launch the iPhone in Europe this September, saying such a plan was "impossible". The denial flies in the face of a report on Wednesday that said Orange, along with O2 and T-Mobile, has cemented a deal with Apple.

France Telecom-owned Orange has not even won the rights to sell the Apple iPhone in France and a decision could still be weeks away, says Forbes.

It maintains that mobile operators are still in talks with Apple over the Apple iPhone, while Orange France executive director Louis-Pierre Wenes told Paris Match:

"A launch date of September, as some reports have said, seems to me impossible."

iPhone speculation

Before last Wednesday's report, pretty much every mobile network operator in Europe had at some point been singled out for a possible Apple iPhone deal, including Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile.

It does look likely, however, that Apple will move away from the single operator version that they went for with AT&T in the US. But with Orange France denying involvement, who knows what the set-up in Europe will look like?

Neither Orange UK nor Apple would comment on these latest reports when contacted.